Shower head



D@n 1, 1942. d E, s MCLEAN l2,303,478

SHOWER HEAD Filed July 11, 1941 Patented Dec. 1, 1942 SHOWER HEAD Edward S. McLean, Wilmington, Del., assignor to Speakman Company, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware Application July 11, 1941, Serial No. 401,911

4 Claims. y(ol. 299-131) The general object of the present invention is to provide an improved showerhead especially characterized by its simplicity and operating reliability. A iurther general object of the invention is to provide a showerhead iwith operating mechanism characterized by its capacity for easy and certain operation by an operator who may be partially disabled.

More specific objects of the invention are to provide a showerhead and operating mechanism therefor especially adapted for emergency use in laboratories, factories, etc., in which its immediate use may be required from time to time by a workman or other person who has been blinded or otherwise partially disabled by a re or acid burn or as a result of some other accidental injury, and in such condition as to require the immediate application to his body of the maximum amount of water which the showerhead is adapted to discharge. For the purposes of its intended use, my improved showerhead may Well be adapted to discharge water at a higher rate than is customarily required for ordinary shower bath purposes. Preferably also the showerhead is so formed as to substantially eliminate the possibility thatk sand or any other foreign substance carried into the showerhead by the Water supplied thereto will materially reduce the water discharge capacity of the showerhead. This is especially important in view of the fact that in some cases my emergency showerhead may be creek water supplied through a pump and pipe line specially provided for the purpose.

The various features of novelty which characterize my invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification. For a better understandingoi the invention, however, its advantages, and specific objects attained with its use, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing and descriptive matter in which I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Of the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic elevation of a showerhead and its operating provisions;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the Valve shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of the showerhead shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a somewhat diagrammatic illustration of the distribution of water discharged by and moving away from the showerhead.

, the port C As somewhat diagrammatically shown in Fig.` 1, A represents a water supply pipe extending downward from a bath room ceiling or other support and having its lower end connected to the inlet B of a showerhead body B through the interposed casing of a control valve C. The latter is advantageously of the self-closing type. As shown in Vsection in Fig. 2, the valve C is of well known form comprising a valve casing of the globe valve type with a port C formed as usual in a partition separating the inlet and outlet chambers of the valve with which the pipe A and showerhead respectively communicate. Flow through the port C is controlled by the valve member C2 including a piston portion working in a dash pot chamber C3 valve casing. A check valve D associated with a leak passage D permits a relatively rapid discharge of fluid from the dash pot chamber C3 b-ut restricts the flow into said chamber and thus permits the valve to open rapidly and prevents it from closing rapidly. A spring C4 biases the valve member C2 for movement in the direction to close the port C.

The valve member C2 may be given an opening movement by a plunger C5 coaxial with the valve member C2 and at the opposite side of from said valve member. The plunger C5 extends through a stuing box C6 carried by the valve casing and has a head at its outer end engaged by a spring Cr1 acting between said head and the valve casing in a direction to move the plunger away from the valve member and permit the latter to close. The plunger C5 is adapted to be moved in the opposite direction to open the valve by means of a rock lever E having a head portion E' interposed between the plunger head and the end of a cup-shaped member Cs enclosing the abutting ends of the parts C5 and E and spring C7, and formed with an aperture in its outer end wall through which a globular head end portion of the lever E extends. In the normal position of the valve C the spring C7 holds the lever E in its horizontal position shown in Fig. 2.

The free end of the rock lever E is connected by a chain or other exible operating element F to an anchorage part F at or adjacent the level of the floor beneath the showerhead and ordinarily screwed or bolted to the oor of the bath-` room or space in which the showerhead is located. As will be apparent, a lateral thrust in any direction against the operating element E which may be exerted by the body or arm of a person accidentally blinded or otherwise disabled will fully open the valve C.

The showerhead body B in the preferred form illustrated is a bell shaped metal casting having a tubular internally threaded inlet B at its closed small diameter end through which the shower head may be connected by a nipple or pipe section to the discharge end of the valve casing C. The showerhead body also comprises 4an internal spider portion B2 adjacent the inlet B and formed with a threaded passage B3 coaxial with the showerhead. A showerhead face member G in the form of a metal disc is provided at one side with an axially extending threaded stem portion G which is threaded into the passage B3. By rotating the showerhead face member G relative to the showerhead shell or body B, the width of the annular discharge port GB between the inner surface of the showerhead body and the peripheral edge of the face member G may be adjusted to thereby regulate the rate at which water will be discharged by the showerhead.

The bell shaped showerhead body B is symmetrical about its axis, or substantially so, for the major portion of its axial extent, but advantageously and as shown, a portion of the inner surface of the showerhead body adjacent its large diameter end, is fiuted or corrugated, comprising alternate internal groove and rib portions B4 and B5 respectively.

As shown in Fig. 4, the crown or crest of each rib B5 is a concave line lying in a plane extending radially away from the showerhead axis and having its downwardly extending lower portion, as seen in Fig. 4, inclined toward the showerhead axis, so that if continued as a straight line it would intersect the axis at a point much closer to the level of the lower end of the showerhead than to the floor level. The bottom line of each groove or trough B4 extends in the direction of a plane radially to the showerhead axis and, as shown in Fig. 4, is a substantially straight line inclined downwardly and away from the shower head axis so that if continued it would intersect the bathroom floor level at a distance from the axis of the showerhead substantially greater than the maximum radial dimension of the showerhead.

In consequence of the above described form of the lower portion of the showerhead body B, the annular sheet or stream of water discharged by the showerhead will intersect a plane a few inches below the showerhead, and transverse to the axis thereof, along lines having the general form of the line H shown in Fig. 5. While the water passes out of contact with the lower edge of the showerhead bell in the form of a continuous corrugated annular sheet, that sheet immediately begins to disintegrate into drops which separate from one another somewhat and distribute themselves throughout a space which becomes definitely conical some feet below the showerhead. For example, with a showerhead formed and proportioned generally as shown in the drawing with a maximum diameter of about nine inches and located seven feet above the bathroom door and having its axis vertical, the water discharged by the showerhead in normal operation will impinge against and be quite uniformly distributed over la circular portion of the bathroom floor about four feet in diameter.

To insure that the showerhead discharge should be suitably uniform about the showerhead axis, the inner surface of the showerhead body and the peripheral edge and upper side and adjacent upper surface of the showerhead face should be smooth and accurately formed, so that the width of the port GB will be uniform all the way around the showerhead axis in all working adjustments of the showerhead face G and so that the water may be properly guided in its movement toward, through and away from said port. When the shower head body and face are rough castings, the inner surface of the showerhead body should be machined from the lower edge of the body to a level appreciably above the uppermost level of the face member G, and the peripheral edge and upper side of the member G, or at least the portion of said upper side adjacent its periphery should also be machined.

Advantageously, and as shown, the face member G and the supporting spider portion of the showerhead are so relatively formed that in the uppermost position of the showerhead face, which is that shown in Fig. 4,' the width of the port GB will be not less than one-sixteenth of an inch or so, which is quite wide enough to substantially eliminate risk of having the port objectionably throttled by sand or other dirt carried into the showerhead by the water supplied thereto.

With the face G lowered relative to the showerhead B sufficiently to make the width of the port GB about nine-sixteenths of an inch, a showerhead of the form and diameter mentioned above will discharge water at about the rate of two barrels per minute, if the water is supplied at a pressure of about seventy pounds P. S. I. Furthermore, with that unusualy high showerhead rate of discharge, the water will be very uniformly distributed over a small circular portion of the bathroom floor, as explained above. With that relatively high rate of discharge, a person beneath the showerhead will be subjected to a very thorough soaking in a very few seconds. A person on whom burning oil or acid has been splashed may well be saved by such a soaking from much of the injury which he would otherwise suffer.

While in accordance with the provisions of the statutes, I have illustrated and described the best form of embodiment of my invention now known to me, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the form of the apparatus disclosed without departing from the spirit of my invention, as set forth in the appended claims and that in some cases certain features of my invention may be used to advantage without a corresponding use of other features.

Having now described my invention, what I clam as new and desire to secure by Letters Paten 1s:

1. A showerhead comprising a bell shaped body having a corrugated annular inner surface portion adjacent the large diameter end of said body and comprising internal corrugation ribs having crown surfaces inclined toward the shower head axis and toward the large diameter end of said body and having a smooth conical annular portion of said surface more remote from said end, and a circular showerhead face member mounted in and coaxial with said body and adjustable in the direction of the axis thereof to vary the width of the annular port space between the peripheral edge of said face member and said second annular surface portion, said bell having an inlet for water opening to the interior of said body at the side of said face member remote from said fluted surface portion.

2. A showerhead comprising a hollow body open at one end and closed at the other end and having an annular portion of its internal surface displaced from each of said ends and extending circularly about an axis and increasing in diameter as the distance from the open end of said body diminishes, and having two sets of internal surface portions distributed about said axis which extend from said open end toward the rst mentioned portion, the portions of one of said sets alternating about said axis with the portions' of the other set and diverging from said axis continuously along their length and the portions of said other set being concave toward, and having their opposite ends oppositely inclined to said axis, and a face member mounted within said body and having a peripheral edge extending circularly about said axis within the space surrounded by the rst mentioned surface portion and adjustable in the direction of said axis to vary the distance between said edge and the first mentioned surface portion, said body having a water inlet to the space between said face member and the closed end of said body.

and having an annular portion of its internal surface displaced from each of said ends and extending circularly about an axis and increasingin diameter as the distance from the open end of said body diminishes, and having internal surface portions distributed about said axis which extend from said open end toward the rst mentioned portion and are inclined away from said axis and having other internal surface portions also distributed about said axis which extend from said open end toward the rst mentioned portion and are inclined toward said axis, and a face member mounted within said body and having a peripheral edge extending circularly about said axis within the space surrounded by the rst mentioned surface portion and adjustable in the direction of said axis to vary the distance between said edge and the rst mentioned surface portion, said body having a water inlet to the space between said face member and the closed end of said body.

4. A showerhead as specified in claim l in which said body and face member comprise means coacting to x a predetermined minimum 3. A showerhead comprising a hollow body 25 annular port Space Width.

open at one end and closed at the other end EDWARD S. MCLEAN. 

